Okay, things are starting to look really, really, really bad for the New York Mets now.

After dropping two out of three to the lowly Nationals over the weekend, the Mets are on the outside in. They are officially out of playoff position for the first time since April 5.

And, with the Reds owning the tiebreaker, the Mets don’t exactly have their own destiny in their hands anymore with just six games remaining.

This weekend could not have gone any worse for New York, who dropped two games thanks to a string of self-enforced errors. That was despite beating up on the Nationals in a series-opening win on Friday night.

On that note, let’s recap the mostly bad, as well as some good, from the Washington series in today’s 3 Up, 3 Down…

Brad Penner-Imagn Images

3 UP
SLICE OF HOPE

As of right now, there is no guarantee that the Mets will even make the playoffs. And, given how they’ve been playing for three plus months, it wouldn’t be surprising if they did miss out. But, with that said, there is some hope to hang your hat on if this team does make it. And that’s Juan Soto. Yes, he had a couple of moments to forget in Saturday’s game. But on Friday, Soto showed just how dangerous a weapon he can be. He set a new career-high with his 42nd home run of the year, which happened to cap off a six-run inning. The three-run blast blew the game wide open and effectively won the game. Soto also finished 2-for-3 with two runs, three RBIs, two walks, and a stolen base. In other words, he did everything to help lead his team to a big win. And, should the Mets make the playoffs, that version of Soto will be key to surviving past the Wild Card round.

DEPENDABLE ARM

Nolan McLean is rapidly turning into a consistent and dependable front-of-the-rotation starter. The rookie delivered five innings of one earned run ball during his outing on Saturday, striking out six. As a result, McLean now has a 1.27 ERA on the year. He has proven that he belongs in the big leagues. He’s also proven that he could start Game 1 of a Wild Card series if needed. There isn’t a whole lot to get excited about with the Mets right now, but McLean is certainly one of them.

WORTHY EFFORT

The bullpen deserves a lot of credit for its efforts over the weekend. Outside of one or two individuals, the relief pitching was largely solid. Five relievers combined to toss 4 2/3 scoreless innings on Friday, while the bullpen didn’t allow a single run until the 11th inning on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, Clay Holmes combined with three other relievers to provide 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. It was just a shame the bullpen didn’t have more to show for its overall body of work against the Nationals.

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

3 DOWN
THROWING IT ALL AWAY 

The Mets entered the weekend with their destiny still in their own hands. However, just days later, that isn’t the case anymore. By dropping two out of three to a bad Nationals team, the Mets are now out of a playoff position for the first time since April 5. And, with the Reds owning the tiebreaker, things could get really tricky the rest of the way. What makes the series loss over the weekend even worse is the fact that the Mets handed the series on a plate to Washington. Bad pitching, sloppy defense, a lack of clutch hitting, and just a real lack of urgency all combined to doom the Mets. And, if they do end up missing the playoffs, they only have themselves to blame. And this weekend will go down as the death knell.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

We’re back to square one with Sean Manaea. The veteran offered some hope with a strong outing against the Padres last time out. However, in his latest start against the Nationals on Sunday, Manaea was back to looking like a lost pitcher on the mound. He gave up three runs early and was pulled after just three innings. And those runs proved too much for the Mets to overcome. It appears as though Manaea won’t be a factor if New York does make the postseason. And it also remains to be seen if he can right the ship for 2026.

CURSED

Sports curses are a funny thing – unless you are a Jets fan – and Mets fans probably won’t be laughing about curses today, either. In a close game on Sunday, the door was still open for the Mets’ offense to do something late in the game. For instance, Francisco Alvarez came to the plate in the ninth and hit what looked to be a sure-thing, game-tying home run. Instead, Nationals outfielder Jacob Young pulled off a home run robbery to end all other home run robberies. It was Young’s second jaw-dropping play after pulling off some insane wizardry in the fifth inning. Young had the game of his life defensively, and he ruined the entire weekend for the Mets. Maybe even the season, depending on how things shake out. But if the Mets do fail to make the playoffs, Young’s brilliance in the outfield will haunt them for a long, long time.